Red Sky at Night
by The Mind Of The Dragon
Summary: *Complete* John Sheppard falls deathly ill while on an away mission. With a malfunctioning PuddleJumper and a StarGate that no longer works, the team are in a race against time to save their friend.
1. Chapter 1

_Written as a fic exchange for the Sheppard H/C community on Live Journal. It was my first ever fic swap, and the first time I have written in a while. I quite enjoyed writing it. Hope you enjoy reading it :D_

_Prompts: 3 things you want (words/phrases/plot points): exhausted Sheppard, illness, Ronon friendship_

_Leave me a comment or I will shrivel up and be forced to live as a dried up prune..._

* * *

><p>The largest city on the planet of Sabnu is the huge bustling hilltop haven of Nasheta. It is home to over half of the planet's population and holds the largest concentration of its famed Carri fruit. Nasheta is almost as beautiful as Atlantis herself. Though it lacks the magic the floating city exudes, it makes up for this failing with sheer size and complex architecture.<p>

The residents of the planet built their capital city many miles from the Stargate for safety reasons.

Through the years they had been attacked by Genii, slaughtered by Wraith and fought many an unsavory being that came through their gate hoping to get their greedy hands on their much talked about and prized Carri fruit. The large red and juicy fruit was also the reason that the Lanteans had became allies with them three years ago. The powerful natural healing properties and also, once fermented, highly explosive tendencies of the fruit, and the fact it is indigenous to only this planet, makes it a highly sought after commodity.

The Stargate itself was located at the bottom of a large ravine, an old scar on the landscape and the only thing that remained of a once great city, now overgrown with tall, thick-trunked trees and foliage. The original city of Nasheta had long ago been destroyed in a huge battle with a cruel and terrible race that had almost obliterated the people of Sabnu. When the people had recovered and the devastated population grew back, they took to the higher grounds and built their magnificent city amidst the protection of the mounds of rock and forests. In order to give advanced warning of any incursion from the Gate, there was always the presence of two sentries who guarded the gate on a three day rota.

Yesterday, the leader of the Nashetan council, Maya Rui, had made a personal call to Atlantis to ask for their help. The computer grid that controlled their city and transportation had stopped working and as a result, their only mode of transportation had come to a grinding and spectacular halt. When the system failure occurred, one of only five much needed sky crafts (or Wannabe Jumpers, as McKay called them; Wannabes for short) had lost power and slammed into the hillside, exploding in a ball of flames.

Due to the hilly and deep, dense forests, the crafts were vital to the every day running of the planet. Used for the transporting of people and vital products between cities and villages, they were also used in harvesting and deforestation.

And so Sheppard and his team had answered the urgent call while escorting Maya Rui back home.

What should have taken a day by land, took the Jumper a mere fifteen minutes to travel from the Stargate to Nasheta. It had taken even less time for McKay to take one look at the very old, very complicated computer control system and decide that they had to return to Atlantis to bring back more equipment if he was to fix it. Maya Rui had requested that McKay also have a look at one of their Wannabes, to see if there was any way they could get at least one airborne.

Deciding to take a look at the one sitting nearest the Puddle Jumper so as to save time, McKay was shown inside by one of the mechanics. The overly eager man had accidentally set off the crafts harvesting mechanism which slammed into the side of the Jumper while McKay watched on, seething. He had exited the Wannabe quickly to go and inspect the Jumper for damage, but with the exception of a scratch or two, it appeared to be relatively unscathed. Not that the clumsy mechanic had gotten off easily. McKay almost made the man cry with his loud and cutting admonishment, and John's angry glare had the mechanic looking at anything but him.

McKay had told Maya Rui that it was probably for the best if the Wan..sky crafts stayed grounded until he could have a proper look at the system, but promised to return in the morning with a full diagnostic kit and Zelenka.

With everyone comfortable in the Jumper for the journey back home, Ronon grumbled about the trip being a waste of time while Rodney argued back that he hadn't known that the entire grid had collapsed and if he had, he would have brought everything he needed on the first journey.

Teyla rolled her eyes as the two men continued to snipe at each other, and John smiled at her as he took the Jumper into the air.

Sheppard flew over the tree line as they approached the Gate, waving down to the two gate sentries, Thedila and Canor, before he felt the Jumper shudder and tilt into a nose dive. He fought to regain control of the craft, but it would not respond to anything he did and fell downward like a massive, heavy brick. The impact had rattled the inside of his skull, but neither he nor his team had suffered any injuries. Except, of course, his ego.

When they had managed to get out of the Jumper, which had been hampered by the fact the rear hatch just did not want to open, they discovered that the Gate itself was damaged by the impact.

"No no no no no!" Rodney had shouted as he walked towards the Gate.

A large, ragged, wire-filled hole had opened where the Jumper had collided with the Gate and McKay shouted a barrage of angry words into the air that shocked Thedila and Canor.

John could tell from Rodney's face and abrupt manner that they were in for the long haul.

Unless they fancied a four month long trip to the nearest Stargate, they were now left stranded on this planet until McKay either fixed this Gate or the Daedalus had time to come and fetch them.

The Jumper itself was having intermittent power outages and McKay wasn't very happy when it failed to even move a few centimeters before powering down again, so the four month route home was out, as well. His mood did not improve when he discovered that the Jumper would not power up enough again to even close the rear hatch, leaving them exposed in a clearing of a deep dense forest.

That had been earlier, but it was late now and getting dark. Not for the first time in the last four hours, John wished they had just spent the night in Nasheta.

They gathered around the fire that Teyla had built to stave off the chill from the coming night. Ronon sharpened his knife while John kicked at the ground, waiting on a report from McKay of his progress. Canor was cooking a sweet-smelling soup over the fire, promising a culinary delight for their stranded friends. Far from being disgusting, Canor's soup proved to be a little more of an acquired taste, though it seemed that Ronon savored the food a lot more than John did. Teyla smiled and thanked Canor for the "sweetly delicious" soup, but she didn't fool John, he could tell she thought it was as sweetly delicious as a bowl of chopped lemons with salt.

McKay had kept on working on the Gate and Jumper until his fingers had stopped responding to the commands his brain was shouting, so he joined the others at the fire, shaking his head in response to John's questioning look. He slurped down a bowl of Canor's soup and smacked his lips happily.

"For the love of a strong coffee," he mumbled as he sat down next to the fire. "Give me an hour to rest, then I will work on the Gate again."

"Work on it in the morning," John replied firmly. "In the meantime, everyone, get some sleep. I'll take first watch."

This was not met well by Thedila and Canor who spoke of the honor of being the Gate Guards. They insisted that one of them would stand guard as always and John decided he would not argue with them. He had gotten to know them well enough in the past few years to know that they would not budge on the matter. In the end, Thedila and John took the first watch together while the others settled down for the night.

As Thedila hunched over the fire, John stood warily peering through the dimming light. He was constantly on edge after Thedila reiterated old warnings they had heard many times while visiting Sabnu. Never wander into the woods, especially at night. Never go off alone, always go in pairs. Stay to clearings and well beaten paths, avoid even the tree lines.

These warnings were in place to keep people safe from the other large population of the planet.

They called the animals Moha. John had never seen one before, but from their descriptions, they were massive tiger-like beasts with grinning teeth-filled mouths and dagger-like scales that ran down their spine to end in a long, whip-like tail. Although they kept mainly to the deeper parts of the forests, there were occasions they apparently ventured out towards clearings, especially if they realized there was a large enough group of walking, ready meals to play with.

John knew the Moha were watching, he could sense them around him, hidden by the trees, and also by the nervousness of Thedila whose head constantly turned to view the area.

Moha never really ventured near the Gate clearing, but Thedila had assured them that there was a huge possibility that the scents from the area would prove too much for the beasts to ignore.

Teyla, Ronon and McKay slept in the shelter of the Jumper while Canor slept by the fire as he was used to. The noises began just after nightfall. John could hear the forest around them come alive as the darkness deepened. There were growls in the tree line, footfalls in the darkness. Every noise had John and Thedila on alert, continually aware that at any minute they could be attacked by the denizens of the Forrest. Thedila passed a comment that the beasts smelled the extra meat sacks around the place. This did nothing to cheer John up, especially having been referred to as some animal's nicely packaged dinner.

Hours passed and his mind wandered as tiredness wearied him. He yawned and pressed his eyelids together to try to stop the sting in his tired eyes. He heard a noise and quickly opened them again, his eyes coming to rest on a huge beast, just a few feet in front of where he stood.

Standing there still and silent, it stared at John Sheppard with hunger-driven longing, eyes never leaving him. Thedila slowly stood up from the fire, his weapon trained on the beast, his tongue clicking quietly in signal to Canor who wakened and quickly stood next to him.

John heard Ronon grunt beside him knowing that the ex-runner, ever on the alert, had heard the animal approach.

They watched as the huge beast raised its head to look at the dark sky above, an obvious nonchalant attempt to lull them into a false sense of security. The beauty of the beast was not lost on them. As large as a small car, it was clearly built to kill. They could see the powerful muscles stretching and moving beneath the tight black and copper fur, the thick sharp claws on its huge paws adding to its already menacing appearance. It seemed to purposely show them the teeth that glistened in its massive jaws as it yawned before bringing its head back down to stare at them again.

"What do you think?" John whispered.

"It's going to attack," Ronon muttered, gun raised beside John's.

The words were barely from his mouth when the beast launched itself from its standing position. From behind it, two more Moha appeared and followed the others lead, leaping into the air towards the four men. John and Ronon's guns blasted loudly, yet both missed as the beasts twisted in midair, making the men scatter before them. Thedila and Canor managed to take one down, their aim more accurate with their experience when faced with such a fearsome animal.

Teyla and Rodney were on their feet in an instant, guns raised as they exited the Jumper. They were just in time to see the mighty beast turn in front of John and Ronon, its long tail whipping in a large arc before running off into the trees, roaring angrily. Thedila and Canor followed as far as the tree line, weapons firing into the woods as they attempted to scare the beast and its pack away.

As the creature had turned, John had staggered back with a grunt, holding his thigh. It felt as if his leg had been torn open but his fingers felt only a small scratch beneath the torn and ragged material of his BDU's.

"You OK?" Ronon asked as he saw John check his leg.

"Yeah, tail caught me."

"Have you ever seen such a beast?" Teyla asked as she made her way closer to them, but John held a hand up to silence her, his attention having been caught by a hand signal from Thedila as he and Canor crept warily back towards them. Then, he saw the movement that had alerted the Gate Guard.

"McKay, get the hatch shut, now!" He shouted, the urgency in his voice raising alarm in the other three.

"But...but..."

"NOW!" John shouted, gun raised again.

McKay was quick to connect his laptop to the Jumper's system and attempted to close the hatch, his hands flying over its keyboard with much panicked muttering. John's eyes were wild, watching, waiting on the next attack.

"THERE!" He aimed his gun and fired at the trees just as four huge Moha came leaping out of the darkness with the largest leader in front.

Having anticipated the way they twist in the air when attacking, Ronon blasted one away, while John managed to take down another before they had even landed in the clearing. Teyla was firing at right angles, catching more of the pack who sought to get at them from the sides of the Jumper.

"MCKAY!"

"I'm working on it!" Came the shout through gritted teeth.

There was a clicking noise as the hatch tried to close, but the sound let McKay know exactly what he needed to do. His hands were a blur as he finally found the problem and fixed it amid the gunfire that rang in his ears.

"GET IN!" he shouted as the hatch began to rise. Teyla was closest and first in, she laid down covering fire as the four others quickly joined her. The hatch door closed to within two inches of being fully closed and then stopped, but it didn't matter they were safe. They all stood for a moment, panting and wide eyed, then the nervous laughter started that made them realise just how close the encounter with the Moha had been.

The laughter died down as they found themselves exhausted. Finding a comfortable place to lay down, it was not long before McKay, Ronon and the two Gate Guards were asleep. Teyla was about to close her eyes when she noticed John rubbing his fingers over the scratch on his thigh.

"John, you are injured?" She asked quietly, so as not to disturb the others.

"It's just a scratch, nothing to write home about." he said leaning back into the pilot's seat for a rest.

"Let me look at it anyway." She insisted as he pulled off his Tac vest.

She looked at the wound despite his eyeroll and huff. There was a thin line that ran across his thigh, a scratch as he had said. He smiled at her with that cocky grin of his and she smiled back, relieved.

"Let's get some rest." Teyla said as she went back to her sleeping area.

As the others slumbered, John sat in the pilot's seat and stared out of the view port at the star dotted sky above. Sleep was dulling his mind and he yawned and thought about the Moha as he scratched his leg before his head tilted back and he, too, fell asleep.

_TBC..._


	2. Chapter 2

McKay had already started working on the Gate long before John woke up. He opened his eyes to the sound of Ronon's gruff voice carrying a warning to McKay, who had apparently began to whine about his lack of coffee. John smirked and sat forward, only to fall back dizzily into the seat. He blinked his eyes a few times, shaking his head against the spinning sensation in his mind. His stomach threatened to empty itself over the console in front of him and he bit back hard to avoid the embarrassing occurrence. Feeling strange and nauseous, it felt as if his body had been shaken and kicked around a football pitch, every muscle seeming to burn and ache. He wondered if it had been such a good idea to eat Canor's less than delightful soup as he was sure that was the reason for his current condition.

He felt a hand on his shoulder and looked into the worried eyes of Teyla, his stomach finally settling.

"We did not wish to disturb you since you did not appear to sleep well last night," she said. "You were shaking a moment ago, are you alright?"

"Yeah, I'm fine," he muttered as got to his feet quickly. "And I slept fine." He grunted, slipping back into his regimented I'm-OK demeanor that he tried to keep at all times. Teyla smiled back, obviously not convinced, but she told him that breakfast was ready and they both headed outside.

"I see Rodney got the door open again." he said as he walked through the hatch, hoping that come nightfall, if they were still here, Rodney would be able to close it again.

Teyla informed him that Thedila and Canor had been gone from early light to fetch fresh water from the stream and hunt for food for lunch time. He noted that the bodies of the two Moha they had killed the night before were gone, probably scavenged during the night by the other members of the pack.

Standing on the yellow grass and breathing in the fresh air of the day, he noticed that the light of the sun seemed to throw a strange colour over everything, something that he had not seen before. He rubbed his eyes hard as the strange light began to make them ache and his head hurt.

Deciding to go grab his sunglasses, he turned to go back inside the Jumper but stopped just before the open hatch and gasped, his eyes wide open despite the pain the light burned into them.

Teyla was quickly at his side, alert and looking around with her gun raised.

"What is it, John?"

"Look at that sky," he whispered. "Those colors, that...what _is_ that?" He said, pointing at the blue sky.

"It is a cloud." Teyla replied, her voice laced with concern.

"Wow, never seen one like that before." He laughed as he walked into the rear of the Jumper, leaving Teyla with a small bemused smile on her face.

He located his sunglasses next to the pilot seat, on the floor. As he bent over to get them, his stomach lurched and he felt as if he might fall when his legs suddenly began to feel unable to hold him up. Steadying himself on the seat, he took a few deep breaths, then straightened. The feeling passed and he walked back outside, masking his face with a look of easiness that he did not feel. If he ever came back to spend a day with Canor, he would be bringing his own food with him.

Teyla stirred the pot over the fire as John returned and took a seat on the ground, with shades and a grin on his face. Ronon and McKay were arguing; well, McKay was talking loudly as he examined the damaged gate, while Ronon stared murderously back at him.

"I don't care what you say, cave boy. I have, in fact, gone over that sequence, twice. So unless you have anything important to add to this more than stirring, one-sided conversation, I suggest that you stop interrupting me and let me work on the next sequence!" McKay said as he continued to work with shattered crystals and reams of broken wires.

Ronon stood there for a minute more, obviously deliberating over whether he should hit McKay or just leave him. John was relieved when he saw the man shake his head and walk away from the irritated scientist, leaving McKay talking to himself while he worked. Ronon joined John and Teyla for breakfast, his face a cloud of anger, but he softened a little when Teyla handed him a bowl of hot oats and a mug of milk. While they ate, they listened to McKay rambling away, obviously annoyed at his lack of progress in fixing the gate.

"How's the leg?" Ronon asked in his usual gruff tone.

"Actually, it's fine. Forgot about it to be honest," John lied, his leg having been painful since he had woken. It burned intensely around the area of the scratch, but he would not mention it. It was such a trivial wound as to complain over.

"John was saying how beautiful the sky is," Teyla said with a small strange smile to Ronon.

"Yeah?" Ronon sniggered.

"Sure, go ahead and laugh." John muttered, embarrassed, wondering why the others did not find it unusual.

He looked again at the sky, raising his eyes behind the cover of his sunglasses so the others did not notice. Even behind his shades the colours were so bright and so...wrong.

The sky itself was orange with streaks of blue, and so bright as to sear the back of his eyes in burning pain even through the dark glasses. The large, lazy clouds made him uneasy, scared even. Blood red in colour, they moved ominously across the sky as if an omen for dark future events.

As he brought his eyes back down to his food, he felt queasy and a little light-headed. He placed his bowl on the ground in front of him as a violent shiver ran through his body. He swallowed hard when his stomach churned, wishing that it would settle down before the others noticed he was unwell. But his stomach heaved in rebellion against the food that he had just eaten and he got to his feet and ran as fast as his strangely weak legs could handle. He barely made it to the tree line before emptying the contents of his stomach into the tall grass. Hunched over, his hands on his knees to steady himself, he breathed long, wavering breaths to try and gain some control over his body. When he knew his stomach had finished having its voiding tantrum, he straightened up and wiped his mouth.

John was mortified as he walked shakily back towards the camp. Though they did not say anything, Ronon and Teyla eyed him in concern, but he ignored them and sat back down, taking a drink of water from his flask to clean the sour taste of vomit from his mouth.

"Canor's soup, I bet." he murmured in response to their stares.

He lay back on the grass and placed his hands behind his head, hoping to convince the others that it was just a dodgy stomach, nothing more. But he felt it was more than that, now. He still felt ill, still felt as if his body was trying to tell him something.

Eventually, the queasiness left him and his stomach settled, allowing him to laze on the ground in the warm air. Ronon eventually drifted off for a walk, but he eyed John as he left, as if knowing he was hiding something.

Teyla emptied the last of the oats into a bowl while surreptitiously watching John, seeing that his breathing was slowing down into a rhythmic pace. A soft purring snore started moments later, showing he had fallen asleep, stretched out on his back without a care in the world.

She forgot about the oats and simply sat there, puzzled as to what ailed John Sheppard. This did not seem like any food poisoning she had ever seen before. When she had entered the Jumper earlier to check on him, she had been convinced that John was recovering from some sort of seizure. She had seen enough of them in her time to recognise someone in the recovery phase, given that they had been a common symptom of Bunna fever on Athos when she was younger.

Still, at least he seemed to be better now, perhaps the stomach voiding had emptied his body of whatever it was that had made him sick.

Teyla jumped as a voice sounded close behind her and she turned to shoot an annoyed look at Rodney.

"Is there anything left? I'm starved." he asked while reaching over and lifting a spoon, eyeing the remainder of the hot oats like a hungry hyena. She handed him what was remained and began to clear her plate away.

"What's with Fly Boy?" he said between mouthfuls of oats, his head jerking to point at John's sleeping form.

"I'm not sure, he seems to think that Canor's soup may have soured his stomach."

"What? That stuff was amazing! Like a combination of aniseed and blackcurrant. A very clever, yet, simple dish." He did everything but lick the bowl, and Teyla was sure that if she had not been there, he probably would have.

Teyla smiled at him. "Yes, well perhaps there was something in it that simply disagreed with John."

"Huh. And yet I have seen him eat some pretty nasty things on some planets that never even fazed him. Anyhoo, time to get back to work!" Rodney went back to the Gate, leaving Teyla to think about what he had said.

She looked back at John, noticing a movement in his left shoulder. She realised is was more than a movement, it was a steady pulsing that was making his arm jerk back and forth. Had she not witnessed what she had earlier, she may have put it down to a strained muscle cramping, or some minor injury from the crash. But considering she had seen the way he had woken in the Jumper, her instinct was that something far worse was happening to John.

She was deep in thought when Ronon returned from his walk. He was practically leaning over her before she became aware of his presence. He sat down and stretched out his limbs, then reached for a drink from his flask.

"What you thinking about?" he said as he placed the cap back on his flask and laid it down.

"Just John. I wonder if he is more sick than he letting on."

"Yeah, I'm thinking the same thing," he agreed. "So what do we do?"

"What do we do about what?" came John's tired drawl from across the way. He yawned and stretched lazily, waiting on an answer.

"Nothing to concern yourself with, John. How are you feeling now?" Teyla asked, looking from him to Ronon, who shrugged back at her.

"I told you, I'm fine," John said as he slowly sat up, adjusting his sunglasses. "McKay any further forward with the repairs?"

"Not really, no. But he seems quite optimistic." Teyla replied.

"An optimistic Rodney McKay. You are kiddin' right?" John smirked as he got to his feet.

He stretched his arms above his head, making sure that neither Teyla nor Ronon saw how painful the movement actually was. Walking slowly, and to his relief steadily, he decided to check up on what McKay was doing as he knew that Teyla was about to ask him more about how he was feeling. Since he did not really know how he felt, he thought it better if she did not have the chance to ask.

Rodney spun around when he heard John approaching, and the smile he had for him froze on his face.

"Uh, you feeling OK?" he asked concerned.

John sighed, irritated. "For the love of...yeah, I'm fine!"

Rodney looked as if he wanted to say something more but was fighting internally with himself as to whether he would.

"Spit it out, McKay." John said, adding that inflection to Rodney's name that he always did when he was annoyed with him.

"You just don't look so good," he said meekly.

John just stared at him, making Rodney turn away to stare at the gaping hole in the side of the Gate.

"I'm making some progress," Rodney tried to shrug the awkwardness of the moment. "But it is going to take a while, yet."

"How long?"

"What? How the hell should I know! How long would it take you to run to Nasheta on a treadmill? Huh? I've got...John?"

He was seeing Rodney through a red haze and his head suddenly felt like it was full of tiny screaming robots that screeched in a high pitched tone while they continually smashed into the insides of his skull. He watched as Rodney grabbed his shoulders and wondered why he was doing so. Rodney was speaking but he could not hear what he was saying due to the noise that screamed in his head.

John took a staggering step away from him, the fear swelling within him fueled by the look of horror on McKay's face. He was vaguely aware of Ronon appearing next to him, then Teyla's soft and caring face looming before him, mouth moving silently. Waves of hot and cold were running up and down his body making him shiver in the warm air. He noted Teyla speaking, but still he could not hear any words. His eyes began to twitch back and forth, his heart sped up so much that it felt as if it was going to explode through his chest. John's eyes rolled up in his head and all he could see was that damned light that burned. His legs became suddenly unable to support him and he fell to the ground with a thud.

There was a moment of blackness from which he emerged slowly, painfully. Every muscle in his body felt like it had been over worked in hard exercise, throbbing and cramping. Opening his eyes, he quickly squeezed them shut with a short moan of pain as the strange light from the sky assaulted his retinas. He tried to cover them as uncontrolled noises of pain escaped his lips. His sunglasses had been knocked off when he had fallen and he reached to find them, only to have Teyla place them on his face again. The relief was instant and he sighed as the pain in his eyes eased.

"John?"

He shook his head and sat up with some help from Ronon who brooded quietly at his side.

"I'm OK," he said unconvincingly, his voice shaking ever so slightly. "Just not feeling too well."

Teyla was about to say something when John got back onto his feet.

"I'm fine. I think Canor's soup is as bad for my insides as it was for my taste buds." He grimaced as sourness filled his mouth, his face blanching at the taste.

"John, I think you should sit back down." she said, but he ignored her and began to walk.

John had only taken three steps forward before beginning to stagger, his legs refusing to obey his commands. He took a deep breath and started again, ignoring the concerned looks of the others.

His eyes blurred, as fresh waves of hot and cold moved up and down his body that were so intense, it was being physically hit with boiling and freezing water. He took another few wobbly steps before pitching forward, but he didn't hit the ground this time as Ronon grabbed his shoulders to steady him.

"What's up, buddy?" Ronon asked, noticing that John's eyes were pretty much vacant.

"I..." John's eyes rolled again and his legs collapsed beneath him as he blacked out. Ronon caught him and lay him down, watching as John's body twisted and bucked on the soft ground. He looked up at Teyla for some idea of what to do but she stood there aghast, momentarily frozen with her hand covering her mouth.

"What...what's wrong with him?" McKay stuttered.

Teyla unfroze as John's body stilled, checking his neck for his pulse.

"I don't know, Rodney, I think he is having seizures." she replied distractedly.

"Seizures, plural?" Rodney's voice raised as he spoke, clearly anxious. "But...when did this start?"

"I'm pretty sure he had one before he woke up earlier this morning, and he seems to have just suffered another." She looked to Ronon. "Help me get him back into the Jumper."

The big Satedan lifted John as easily as a child and carried him into the Jumper just as Canor and Thedila returned from their early morning hunt.

McKay nodded to the two as they came out of the tree line, but he turned and went back to work on the gate with a new sense of urgency. Despite his intense focus on his work, his mind continually returned to John and what was wrong with him, his eyes flickering up every now and again to stare at the Jumper in which his friend lay. He wanted to go and see John, find out what was wrong, but something told him that the best thing he could do to help was get them home. So, he continued to work on the Gate with the fervor of a man possessed.

Teyla went outside to fetch some of the water near the camp fire and was met by the weary hunters.

"Teyla Emmagan, we greet you the day we do." Thedila said in custom greeting before throwing down the fruit of his morning's labour next to the fire.

"Thedila Goran, I greet the day you do back." she said the customary reply quickly as she filled a cup with fresh water.

"What has been done with John Sheppard, that he is being asleep during the light?" Thedila asked warily as he saw Ronon place a rolled up jumper under John's head as a pillow.

"We do not know what is wrong with him. He seems to be getting sicker, having seizures..."

"Teyla, did Moha got blood of John Sheppard in the night last?" It was a rather anxious Canor who interrupted.

"Yes Canor, but it is only a scratch on his leg."

Thedila looked at Canor, who gazed back with troubled eyes.

"Teyla, John Sheppard will be better to get to Nasheta as quickly as your sky craft will allow." Canor said.

"But the... sky craft is still broken, Canor, it will not fly."

"But he must be coming to Nasheta quicker than feet." Canor looked worried and agitated. "I must be looking at him."

Teyla led them into the Jumper to where Ronon sat with the unconscious John. Canor pulled John's eyelids open and peered at his eyes with interest. The whites of John's eyes were tinged with an orange colour, a film that swam atop the surface of the eye. His pupils were dilated so much so as to almost obliterate the colour of the iris and Teyla realised at once why John had calmed when she had placed his sunglasses back on his face.

Thedila explained to them that the whip-like tail of the Moha was covered in tiny barbs that would embed into the intended target's flesh and release a toxin that raged through the system like an infection that, if left untreated, would eventually kill the victim. As he explained the situation to Teyla and Ronon, he could see that they had already seen symptoms of the toxin ravaging Sheppard's body. Thedila knew from experience that John was halfway through the poison cycle, already. He waited patiently for Canor to finish his assessment, already aware that time was running out for the man. They had no way to help him unless they got him to Nasheta.

"John Sheppard be coming down to death if he not be taken to Nasheta quicker than feet." Canor announced as he let John's eyelids close. He peered at the wound on his leg through the torn material and tutted as he poked at the now inflamed scratch with his cane. "John Sheppard has no time now, he be coming down dead before night here comes."

Ronon gritted his teeth and punched the side of the Jumper, then his anger took him outside towards McKay.

"Get... this... thing... _fixed_!" he growled at Rodney.

"Look, big guy, it isn't as if I have been sitting around doing nothing..."

"John is dying," Ronon told the scientist. "If we don't get him to Nasheta or home before night fall, he's dead."

McKay's mouth opened and closed like a fish, his eyes wide with horror. He had been working on the Gate all day and knew that it would not be fixed in the next week, never mind the next couple of hours.

"But Nasheta is...is...so far away." he finished miserably.

"They have Medics at their medicine facility in Nasheta who could help him. Get..._something_ fixed." Ronon growled and walked back to the Jumper, leaving McKay terrified for more than himself.

Rodney watched Ronon until he disappeared back inside the craft, shocked that John was so deathly ill. He now hated the fact that he had worked on the Gate instead of the Jumper. His thinking had been to fix the gate and bring supplies back from Atlantis in order to fix the Jumper, but now he regretted his decision. He just stared at the Jumper, letting the tablet fall out of his hand to the ground, crushed that his decision had probably cost the life of his best friend.

_TBC..._


	3. Chapter 3

John awoke to find Teyla applying some herbal paste that Thedila had given her to his leg. He squinted his eyes against the light and she could see the orange colour in the white of his eyes was a deeper shade than before, so handed him his shades that Canor had removed in order to inspect his eyes.

"Hey, Teyla. What's going on?" he asked, attempting to sit up before she stopped him.

"Stay still, John do not worry, everything will be fine."

"You know, when you say things like that, it only _makes_ me worry." John said, grinning.

He sat up groggily when she had finished placing a bandage over the wound. He looked around, seeing Rodney was now working away at the rear of the craft on the crystal array compartment. McKay never took his eyes off what he was doing, though he acknowledged him with a jerky wave and a comment about his similarity to sleeping beauty. Then, John noticed Thedila and Canor sitting conversing at the camp fire outside.

"Ahhh, the hunter-gatherers have returned!" he said, getting slowly to his feet, ignoring Teyla's attempts to get him to lay back down.

He found his legs were once again listening to his brain, despite them aching and making his easy, confident swagger less steady than usual. This food poisoning, or virus or whatever it was, was really beating the crap out of him and he just wanted to get some fresh air and be away from the sometimes overwhelming concern that Teyla laid on him.

As soon as he got outside, he could sense something was very wrong. Everyone was looking at him with looks of worry and sadness. A coldness started in the pit of his stomach. Even McKay looked more miserable than usual as he had passed him on the way out of the Jumper, and it seemed he was unable to even look John in the eye, which in itself was something to worry about.

"Thedila Goran, Canor Buron, I greet you the day I do." John said the words he had long ago memorized and waited on the reply. For some moments, the two men stared at him as if he was a different person, a stranger to them, both their faces showing fear and concern towards him. John awkwardly stared back, wishing he had stayed in the Jumper.

"John Sheppard, I greet the day you do back." Thedila sighed finally, his eyes barely managing to meet John's intense stare.

It occurred to John that everyone seemed to know something he didn't, but he was sure that he really didn't want to know, either. The longer no one spoke, however, the more he needed to know what was happening. Even Ronon was having a hard time looking him in the eye; he seemed almost anxious.

"Will someone please tell me what the hell is going on here?" He said, looking in turn at each and every one of them.

After a moment, Teyla began to speak, but as John turned to look at her, his brows creased in confusion as his eyes caught sight of something to the side of the Puddle Jumper.

"You know, that must be the strangest damn thing I've ever seen." John said distractedly, pointing towards the wooded area beyond the Jumper while walking slowly in the same direction.

To John's eyes, the air was rippling and shaking all around him, and he stared at the phenomenon with some awe and a little fear. It was as if he was seeing the very air move, though he knew this to be impossible. His surroundings were vibrating visibly as if he was looking through fast falling water. There was a dizzying haze all around that made the world shake. He thought he could even hear it, deep inside, a low steady hum that was pounding strongly through his veins.

"What _is_ that?" he asked as he raised his arms. By now the others were more than interested, and even McKay had stopped what he was doing to watch John as he continued his slow, trembling movements. Canor and Thedila were the only ones who knew what was happening and looked on with sadness and pity.

John moved his hands before him and the air moved as if it was fluid, his movements creating waves that spread outward from his push. He saw that his hands were shaking, trembling terribly, but he could not feel nor control it.

The coldness John had felt earlier in his stomach began to spread throughout his entire body and into his mind, bringing with it panic and terror that tried to freeze the blood in his veins. He began to shake uncontrollably, his mouth filled with a metallic taste that made him gag. The world tilted as his body folded in on itself, pushing the air from his lungs in an explosive moan. The shades flew from his face with the force of the movement and no matter what he tried, he could not close his eyes against weird light that hurt them so much. His mouth opened in a silent scream as his body seemed to attempt to tear itself apart. Muscles appeared to be trying to detach themselves from his very bones, moving in different directions while stretching ligaments to their fullest, most painful capacity.

John's head snapped backwards as his body whipped upright again. His eyes locked on the bright sky and he could feel the image burning onto the retinas of his wide, terror-filled eyes. Nausea gripped him as he fell, falling for what felt like forever. He wanted to scream, but his jaw was clenched tightly, now, and he could not open it again. His mind suddenly reached a point of extreme acuity, before everything became still and silent and then, abruptly, his mind shut down.

Ronon reached him before the others did and knelt beside his convulsing body, unsure of what to do. He took hold of John's flailing arm before it could strike his face, holding his friend gently as the seizure raged on. John's skin was burning fiercely beneath Ronon's touch. He thrashed and bucked upon the ground. With only the whites of his eyes showing and his teeth tightly clenched, John had the scary appearance of someone possessed. Ronon could barely watch as John contorted, so when the seizure subsided and he went limp, the Satedan let out a breath that he had not realised he was holding.

John was now relaxed, sleeping or unconscious, Ronon was not sure, but it pleased him to see John at peace. Ronon knew that whatever time they had to save him was quickly running out; his rapid deterioration was evidence enough of that fact. In the few hours since the Moha had attacked, John had gone from his usual strong, fit self with a devil-may-care attitude, to that of a trembling, fragile individual who Ronon could barely recognise. It frightened Ronon to see his friend in such a way, but it terrified him to think that John was dying before his eyes. He suddenly hated himself, thinking that if he had just shot the damn Moha when he had first seen it, maybe he could have stopped this from happening.

Ronon heard Teyla's raised voice as she spoke with Thedila and Canor, knew that she was just as worried about John as he was and it showed in the tone of her voice. She was heatedly discussing ways to help John, and getting more and more frustrated with every reply that Canor gave her.

He saw McKay, now sitting next to the broken gate, his head in his hands in a posture of defeat and desperation. He wanted to call on him, tell him everything was going to work out, but he could not say the words that he did not believe in his heart. He felt as if he was losing a brother, a member of this small team of people that had become his family.

Teyla turned from the Nashetans, then came and sat down next to him. Her face was lined with worry that Ronon knew showed on his own.

"How is he?" she asked, her voice trembling slightly.

"Seizure's over." was all he could manage to say. But Teyla knew how deep Ronon ran and placed a hand on his knee to show she felt the same. She helped Ronon take John back into the Jumper and lay him gently down on the floor where Thedila had spread out some of his own bedding in a makeshift bed for the sick man.

John's face was red with fever and sweat trickled down into his dark hair as his eyes twitched frantically behind his closed lids. He murmured and groaned softly in his deep, fevered sleep, incoherent words occasionally breaking the pained noises.

Thedila and Canor had settled down near the rear of the hatch, anxiously muttering between themselves. Thedila had already contacted Nasheta with a view of perhaps trying to get a medic out to the Gate site, but the word back from the city had been bleak given the breakdown of their only mode of transport had been the reason the Lanteans were here in the first place.

Ronon and Teyla both looked up as Rodney entered the craft, noticing a more intense look on his face than the man had ever shown. He threw himself down and sighed a long and weary sigh.

"I can't fix it. The Jumper, I mean. I just don't have the correct equipment." he lowered his head in defeat.

It was clear to Ronon that McKay had spent the last few hours mostly alone, struggling to find a way to help save John's life. Though he would never admit it, Ronon respected McKay more than the stubborn scientist would ever know.

"There are fried crystals in the Jumper and more broken wires on both it and the gate than I know what to do with." He could hardly look at his teammates, feeling that he was letting everyone down. "I can only surmise that when the Wannabe struck the Jumper with it's harvesting arm, that a pulse of energy from the cutting laser might have caused the damage."

Rodney threw some shattered fragments of burned out crystals down for the others to see. "That is all that remains of the entire array of crystals in the Jumper." he said sadly.

Canor suddenly shot to his feet and began speaking so animatedly while pointing at the shards that Thedila had to ask him to slow down.

"The Mound of Glass! Mound of Glass!" he repeated over and over until a flicker of hope danced in Thedila's eyes.

"Oh, Canor, I be believing you have answer!" Thedila cried. "The Mound of Glass, it be a place that be holding the crystals that yesterday broke!"

McKay was on his feet in seconds, wringing his hands in barely contained excitement.

"The Mound of Glass be in the area of the river. Some be believing that a Sky Craft like yours there crashed some time past. There be crystals and parts of perhaps what you need?"

"Yes!" Rodney said snapping his fingers. "There could be something that we can use! Take me there!"

"I shall come with you." Teyla said as she got to her feet. "If it is near the river, Canor can help me fetch back fresh water for John."

"One of us be needing to stay." Thedila said. "Now that John be in the time that is nearing the end, the Moha will be returning for the meat sack they poisoned. John be needing the greatest protecting now, as be you all."

Canor decided to stay behind as Thedila led Teyla and Rodney to the Mound and to fetch water.

McKay eyed John sadly as he pulled on his tac vest and backpack, seeing that Ronon was troubled.

"He...he's going to be OK, you know." Rodney said before he walked out of the Jumper with Teyla. "This is John Sheppard we are talking about."

Ronon looked at McKay, noting how pale he was with the dark circles so prominent under his eyes.

"Yeah, I know. He'll be fine." he replied, hoping that McKay believed his false optimism.

0000

John woke up in the late afternoon, an hour after Teyla and Rodney had left for the Mound of Glass. He found himself covered in a blanket on the floor of the Jumper, laying on top of odd but soft fur bedding. He squinted against the strange-coloured light that had seemed so beautiful earlier, that now made his eyes weep with pain. His head hurt intensely, his vision was blurry and his mouth felt as if a bucket of hot desert sand had been emptied into it. His body felt like a furnace, blistering hot and sweating as a raging temperature burned through his system. Feeling so weak and unable even sit up, he could hardly keep his eyes open. Every muscle in his body seemed to have forgotten how to work, leaving him laying there, terrified.

His head felt heavy, but he finally managed to turn it to see Ronon sitting beside him, his legs drawn up. The man's head was resting on his arms over which his long dreadlocks hung. He seemed to be sleeping, but John knew otherwise.

"How do you feel?" Ronon said as he lifted his head from his arms. Always alert, John thought.

"My head, it..." He stopped talking, his weak voice grated on his raw throat, making him cough pathetically.

"Hurts." Ronon finished for him, nodding his head.

"What's wrong with me?"

"That scratch on your leg. Canor says the Moha have poison in their tails."

"And here I thought it was the lovely soup that had caused it." he said, trying to make light of what he now knew was something deathly serious.

"You not be liking my soup John?" Canor said from where he stood at the doorway of the Jumper, watching for the attack he knew would be coming.

John tried to laugh but just couldn't, he was exhausted and weak, but Canor smiled at him, nodding knowingly.

"Next time I be making you different thing, you be liking that." Canor's smile faded as he finished the words, a sadness coming over his features as he turned to look outside again.

It was eerily quiet outside; any noise from the woods seemed louder than usual. Canor was alert and ready, his keen eyes ever watchful of their surroundings. He told Ronon he was going for a walk around the perimeter, and went outside.

"How long do I have?" John asked, attempting and failing to turn his pained body to a more comfortable position.

Ronon refused to answer, he just stared at John as if he was shocked that he had had the nerve to ask such a question.

"Ronon, I can tell by the way you're all are acting that this isn't just gonna go away. How long do I have?"

"Canor says you...night fall." Ronon answered. "Teyla and McKay are off to some place to try and scavenge stuff for the Jumper, get you to Nasheta for help."

John swallowed hard. He could see that evening was already upon them and that night fall was not far away. Time was quickly running out. Closing his eyes, he tried to ignore the urge he felt to scream. Biting down hard, his jaw clenched tight in an often practiced way of stopping his emotions of getting the better of him. He felt a panic like which he had never felt before, an icy cold terror that sped through his mind and body so fast that he gasped audibly. When he opened his eyes again, Ronon was looking at him, clearly anxious. He fought hard not to show how scared he was, chewing on his lower lip as he did when fighting inner turmoil.

He could tell that Ronon was hurting, probably blaming himself somehow. That was the nature of Ronon, not unlike himself. The very fact that he had been present when John had been injured, would make the Sadetan think that he was partly to blame for John's current predicament.

"Not your fault, big guy." he said quietly, hitting Ronon with a purposeful stare.

Ronon just looked away, shaking his head. For a long time there was silence, both men lost in their own thoughts.

John gasped loudly as a pain exploded in his body, the sound bringing Ronon quickly closer to him. He gripped his friend's arm as his body folded in a cramp against the pain that shot through him like lightening. Ronon held his shoulders tight as John concentrated on breathing, a harsh groan sounding every time he exhaled.

The pain slowly subsided, but John noticed that everything was slightly darker than before, a little more reddish in colour. Ronon was looking at him with knitted brows, alarm plain on his face. John did not have the strength to reassure him, falling limply back onto the soft fur bedding. Something trickled down his cheek and for a moment he thought it was a tear. He wiped it away only to find the liquid was sticky. Recognising it as blood, he understood why the world was suddenly hues of red; his eyes were bleeding.

John could almost hear time ticking away and though he had no doubts that McKay would fix the Jumper and the Stargate, he knew it would not be in time. Waves of hot and cold traversed his body once more and he knew that he would black out soon or seizure again.

His throat clenched as he thought of his lack of time. There were so many things he had planned to do that he now knew he would never be able to. So many places he had longed to visit, too many people he had wanted to see again and spend quality time with. Who would look after his team once he was gone? He knew someone would take over as team leader, but they were more than his team. They were his family. How could he leave them alone in this unforgiving galaxy? But then, they all had a remarkable way of surviving, and he knew that they would continue on without him. At that moment, a yearning so strong hit him with a heavy force that felt like it might crush his chest.

Suddenly, he wanted to see the sky once more.

"Please," John whispered as his hand grasped weakly at Ronon's arm. "Take me outside."

Ronon quickly understood and despite knowing the dangers that could be approaching, he lifted John to the clearing outside, gently laying him down on the soft grass.

He looked at the sky with a look of longing that only a grounded pilot could feel.

"So beautiful." He breathed.

To John's eyes, the sky was a deep dark red with streaks of orange. Dark burgundy clouds floated by lazily, making him smile. If only he could fly in that strange and beautiful sky, he might die happy. He drew in a long breath and blew out a wavering sigh. Ever the silent one, Ronon sat quietly next to him, tearing blades of grass from the ground and scattering them at his feet.

"Sheppard," he growled, "I'm..."

"Don't you dare."

"But..."

"No. Leave it. I will not die listening to you go on about how much of an ass you are." He managed to croak.

Ronon chuckled.

"It's been good, though, huh?"

"Yeah. Been good. Sheppard?"

"Yeah?"

Before Ronon could say what he wanted to, John's head pulled backward with a jolt as his body twisted into another seizure. His back arched unpleasantly as all his muscles once again began to twitch and shake uncontrollably. A small cry escaped John's lips but he was unaware of it as blackness had already taken him, once more. Ronon jumped, completely powerless but feeling that staying beside his friend was important, even though there was nothing he could do to help him.

To Ronon, the seizure seemed to last forever. John grunted and bucked violently, scaring Ronon with the ferocity of it. He felt that John would surely break something if the seizure did not end soon. Blood was trickling from his tightly shut eyes and more blood flowed from his mouth as he bit through his lower lip when his jaw snapped closed. On and on, the seizure continued, never slowing, never easing. Ronon was distraught, feeling so powerless, so completely unable to help his friend.

Canor was even more alert, knowing that the Moha would be near enough to hear John's cries, smell the blood on the air despite how little it was. He was pleading with Ronon to take him inside, but Ronon could not even begin to figure out how to do that, so fierce was the seizure.

Then, finally, the bucking and thrashing slowed down to a twitching that eased to stillness. The grunting subsided to be replaced by deep breathing that was occasionally broken by a quiet moan. John lay in the arms of unconsciousness, completely unaware of what had just happened. For long moments, there was an eerie stillness that made Ronon lean over and check for a pulse, only to lean back on his haunches, relieved when he found a weak and thready beat.

"They be coming Ronon, they be coming, now! Get him inside that Sky Craft!"

Ronon hauled John into his arms, walking quickly back to the Jumper when Canor let loose a round of fire.

"RUN!"

Ronon made it to the ship and lowered John to the floor. He lifted his guns and turned just as a scream sounded outside. He ran to the doorway to see Canor underneath a snarling Moha, its jaws inches from his face. Roaring, he raised his gun, firing from the doorway, unwilling to leave John unprotected.

The Moha's head snapped back and Ronon watched as Canor wriggled from under its heavy corpse, still firing his weapon at the others that were circling him. From within the trees came a third and fourth burst of weapons fire and Ronon saw the others returning from their scout. They were blasting away at the beasts who jumped and twisted from Canor to attack them, but Ronon could see that the animals were thinking of retreating.

Ronon was almost relieved until he realised with a stomach-churning certainty, that he had been hunted and had been beaten. He realised now that the animals who had attacked Canor had simply been a distraction. Now, he found himself looking into the gleaming eyes of the leader of the Moha, who had slunk in from the side of the Jumper and pounced on him, knocking the gun from his hand. The pack leader growled as he held Ronon pinned to the ground. He had no chance, and the others were still occupied with the first wave of attackers. He struggled beneath the beast knowing that despite everything, John would die, and that he too would join him in that finality.

And then he watched as the Moha's head became nothing more than a wet cloud of blood and brain matter that fell on his terrified face in a shower of gore. He shrugged from under the dead animal, looking around to see who had been the one to save him to find John Sheppard's half-open eyes watching him, the gun in his hand slipping out of his relaxing fingers. Ronon quickly made his way over to him, and watched as John's eyes closed and his mouth let out a long wavering sigh. He feared the worst and checked to make sure he was still breathing while feeling for a pulse in his neck. John was holding on, but by the looks of it, he wouldn't be able to hold on for much longer.

He heard a noise outside and looked up to see Teyla and Rodney enter the Jumper, dropping their full backpacks onto the floor. A blood soaked Canor entered, followed by Thedila who eyed his friend with worry.

"I be OK, Thed, it not be my blood." Canor panted. "It be over for now, but we be needing to get away quick. Other Moha be heading down soon."

"Well, if you would be so kind as to assist me, why don't we try and get us the hell out of here, hmm?" Rodney said as he dragged all kinds of things from his backpack and took them to the crystal control array.

Teyla dropped to her knees next to John. She barely kept in the gasp that formed in her throat when she looked upon his pale and blood-streaked face.

"He had another seizure, a bad one. Blood keeps coming from his eyes." Ronon told her.

"This being the ending I'm sorry saying," Thedila said as he ran his hand over John's fevered head. "Fitting worsens, and then be coming the death time. I'm all sorry that this be happening to John Sheppard. He will not be waking again, now."

Tears glistened in Teyla's eyes as she looked up and said, "No, we still have time Thedila. I trust Rodney to get John to Nasheta."

Ronon could not look at her, fearing that he himself would break in grief over John.

McKay worked as fast as his hands would allow, muttering away to himself he placed crystals taken from the Mound into the Jumper console while wiping sweat away from his creased brow. He worked tirelessly in silence for over an hour. No one said a word, but Teyla went to Rodney and offered him water from her canteen which he swallowed greedily and quickly before going back to work with a thanks. Canor was on hand to give him whatever he asked for, doing his best to keep up with Rodney as he worked intently to get the Jumper working again. Occasionally he would throw a crystal to the ground, muttering loudly of the fact it was useless.

True to what Thedila had said, John did not waken again. His body burned hot and soaked itself in sweat that dried quickly from the internal heat. His shallow breathing was laboured and every breath he took made the others breathe with him. His closed eyes were encrusted with dried blood, giving the horrific appearance that he had lost his eyes, somehow. His lower lip was bruised and swollen, and Teyla busied herself wiping the trails of blood from his face then applied a cooling wet cloth to his forehead.

Darkness was beginning to fall as Thedia began to chant what sounded like a prayer, to which Canor added his voice. This was little comfort to the others, who tried to ignore him. McKay seemed most irritated by the chanting. He mumbled and grumbled about and stupid fantasies that the Nashetans and primitive cultures in general believed.

He threw another crystal to the ground where it shattered loudly, halting Thedila's chants. Rodney crunched his fists at the side of his head and squeezed his eyes tightly shut. Teyla sensed the desperation in him, knew that they asked him to carry so much responsibility that sometimes they forgot he was only a man. She placed a hand on his shoulder and he raised his head until his eyes met hers, and she saw the tortured look his face held. She placed her head against his, wishing to impart some strength and comfort to him that might help in some way.

McKay nodded his head and sighed, then took another crystal from his backpack, placing it in the empty slot that the one he had just smashed had came from. Immediately, it flickered to life and his tablet began to beep. McKay became a sudden flurry of activity.

"Yes yes YES! Oh, come on, you lovely machine!" he said, pressing and poking at wires and prodding his tablet.

More crystals began to flicker on and soon the entire array was aglow with icy blue light which McKay regarded with a look of sheer delight. When the hatch of the door began to rise slowly and steadily, the interior lights becoming stronger, they all knew he had done it. Ronon got up and slapped him on the back, a huge grin on his face, when the hatch door finally sealed shut.

"It's not over yet." Rodney said jumping into the pilot's seat.

Rodney powered up the Jumper with a determined smile, his eyes sparkling with accomplishment.

"Everyone, hold on. I'm not sure if the fix will hold, but I'm sure as hell going to get us to Nasheta."

He managed to get the craft into the air and pointed it in the direction of the city that possibly held the key to John's survival. Before long, the glistening city soon filled the Jumper's view port with a dazzling display of life, and they all exchanged glances of hope the closer they got.

As they closed in on Nasheta, the group sat in silence, their earlier glee at the Jumper working gone in the time it took them to realise that John was in his final minutes. Rodney took the Jumper down to the hospital landing area as fast and safely as he could manage.

Thedila had called ahead and when they landed, there were people waiting to attend to John. The team looked on as John's frail body was lifted onto a type of gurney and whisked away by the two medics into the hospital as he began to seizure, again. The team followed Thedila and Canor as they hurried after John, their hearts heavy with dread at the outcome they suspected might await them when they stepped through those doors.

_TBC..._


	4. Chapter 4

_It's a long time dark,_ John thought as he lay in dark limbo unable to move, barely even breathing.

_Is this death?_ he wondered, _Am I dead?_

He could not hear a thing, and even though he was sure his eyes were open, he could see nothing. His body seemed to be held in nothingness. It was as if he was floating on an air current, though he felt no movement, nor air passing over his body. He tried to move, but nothing worked anymore, almost as if his brain had been disconnected from his body and it was _that_ which floated in the void. With a frosty chill in his heart, he decided that he was, in fact, dead.

_Well, the afterlife sucks_, he thought.

His mind seemed to be empty, as for a long time he did not seem to have a single thought in his head, only a sense of existence and loneliness.

After an unquantifiable passing of time, a confusing, yet hugely intense feeling of relief washed over him. At first, he was not sure why he was feeling it, but it made him happy regardless. And then, with this happiness came the understanding that he was relived because he was no longer suffering the effects of the Moha poison.

When he was younger, he had read a theory somewhere that a person's final moments would be replayed into eternity. Be a person's death a mere slipping peacefully away, or a horrific endurance of terrible death throes, the very final moments of a person's life would be repeated over and over again like a never ending echo of death.

John had not much liked that idea, and being a soldier whose job should include the words 'huge possibility of dying a horrible death' in its lengthy description, the thought of forever living his death had always scared him. He was immensely pleased that the theory seemed to be a load of bull, owing to the fact he was not replaying the final massive seizure that had ended his life.

He continued to float in the dark emptiness, his thoughts nothing really more than sad remembrance of what he had left behind. His team, his three friends who had become more like family to him than his real blood family had ever really been. He wished he could have stayed with them, enjoyed more adventures and laughter, have more times to tease McKay and times to fight hard and spar strongly with Teyla and Ronon. If this was his existence now, he sure was going to miss life and his Lantean family terribly.

Something began to bother him, some strange sensation that seemed to be building up until he began to feel a warmth in what he assumed was his chest. The warmth grew to cover his entire, now fully aware, body in prolonged and sustained burning waves of pins and needles that slowly threatened to drive him insane. The burning grew to an intolerable level and he believed they must have placed him on a funeral pyre.

The darkness was fading and he realised his eyes were closed and that there was light on the other side of his lids, if only he could open them. The fire burned through his body and he wanted to scream as every muscle twitched and throbbed in increasing waves of intensity. He suddenly didn't want to open his eyes, he could not bear to see the flames he was sure were licking his body and feeding upon his skin. Was it this, then, that was to be his eternal replay? Was this his actual death that he would need to endure forever?

Then abruptly, everything stopped. No pain, no heat, no feeling other than a chilled numbness and a beautiful nothingness. John floated peacefully until muffled noises began to pull him from his isolation.

He began to make out voices, various voices chattering around him. Some were angry, some were sad and someone was crying, he was sure of it. The sound of the crying filled him with melancholy and he felt a wet warmth trickle from his eye. He so very much wanted to waken and hold that crying person as they sounded so despondent, so heart-broken that his own heart was hurting for them.

Then, he recognised the crying person to be Teyla. He could hear her now, could hear all his team mates, speaking words of regret and grief. She was attempting to say the words of an ancient prayer near him, her voice breaking as her breathing hitched in her tight throat. He could hear Rodney's sorrowful voice saying "If only I had fixed it sooner." over and over. He could also hear Ronon attempting to soothe them both, but even his gruff voice was breaking.

_Who has died?_ he wondered. _Who are they grieving for?_

It couldn't possibly be himself, he was right here, right here in front of them, alive and ready to wake up! He had only just realised it himself, but surely they could see it!

He heard another voice, that of Thedila.

"His heart, it be weakened too much. It not being beating there now. I be sorry, people of Atlantis, but John Sheppard be gone to death, now."

More cries from Teyla, more moans from Rodney, and a sudden crunching noise that he suspected was Ronon punching something. He was proven correct when Teyla's voice scolded and told Ronon to sit down and let her attend to his now, probably, broken hand.

_But I am here!_ he shouted and roared silently, immobile, powerless.

"It's all my fault," Rodney lamented. "I...I should have...oh God..." He fell silent, no doubt doing his usual and disappearing inside himself where he could berate and punish himself privately, John thought.

It was the small younger voice of Canor that finally broke the grief in the room.

"You been checking John Sheppard's heart beat on the regular, Thedila? At times, the cure be taking toll on body and it be seeming to be gone to death but no."

There was a flurry beside him and he felt pressure on his neck. For a few moments there was silence that seemed to stretch to eternity.

"I be praising the Gods that be living!" Thedila exclaimed after a moment. "His heart be beating strong!"

He heard McKay exclaim; "Oh, thank God!" followed by; "He's going to be okay, isn't he?" John could just imagine the look on McKay's face, the large wide eyes with the one-sided smile that he was sure would be pulling at his mouth.

Teyla was thanking the Ancestors, he could hear the way her smile was pulling her mouth, her voice happy and released of strain.

He listened as someone approached and felt it as they leaned close to him. He sensed the man was frightened, yet he was still able to growl his words out like an angry giant.

"Come on, Buddy, you get back here and say sorry for my hand," Ronon said gruffly. "You get back here, now."

John could hardly refuse the big man, the words stirring a strength deep inside him that spurred his body to waken.

He was unsure how long it took between Thedila's statement of his being very much alive, until his body began to catch up, but it sure as hell seemed like an eternity to him.

It was as if his body was thawing rather than wakening, almost like it had been frozen inside a large block of ice which was now melting around him. Any cold numbness he had felt before was quickly leaving to be replaced with a heat that neither burned nor hurt him. The warmth rippled through his muscles and he felt his body tremble slightly at the sensation.

He became impatient and urged his tired stiff body to begin to work again, realising that what he had been going through since he became aware and conscious, had been a cleansing of the toxin from his body. John could feel strength returning to him, a new, invigorating strength that was as much in his mind as his body. He could hear the thumping of his heart in his ears, a steady loud beat that seemed to vibrate within the fibers of his very being.

His eyes fluttered and he could feel the tension in the room heighten. He knew they were watching him, awaiting his return expectantly. When he finally managed to open them and focus on the people around him, he took a deep breath and looked squarely at Ronon, who sat with his elbows on his bed, one hand cradled in the other.

"You did that yourself, big guy, I'd nothing to do with it." he whispered in retort for Ronon's earlier words.

Ronon grinned, then burst out laughing so heartily that it infected the room with a sense of happiness that even Rodney McKay had to join in.

John felt as weak as a new born kitten, washed out and exhausted. His muscles ached, but not even that could stop him smiling, the feelings in the room infecting his tired mind. He was alive and nothing was going to ruin this moment for him, not even his tired and throbbing body.

Teyla moved closer and placed her hand on John's shoulder, the tears falling freely down her cheeks.

"Welcome back, John." she said as she smiled brightly through her tears.

"Good to be back." he managed, smiling weakly.

Rodney hung around the bottom of John's bed, the smile that John had expected to be there, tugging at the corners of his mouth like he knew it would be. John regarded the man whose furious work had saved his life, again. The lines of worry and the markers of the extreme stress these past hours of work had put him through were highlighted by the dark circles beneath his bloodshot eyes. He stood there with the air of a man on the verge of collapse from exhaustion, whose sheer bloody mindedness just damn well refused to allow his body to go down anytime soon.

"Rodney, I owe you a large flask of coffee and a box of energy bars." John said.

"Oh...Coffee..." McKay said with a wistful look in his eyes, to which the others smilingly shook their heads.

"We be glad that you being better in health, John Sheppard. We be thanking the Gods that you are being healthy once more." Thedila spoke from the doorway, Canor beside him, grinning widely.

"I be thanking your Gods, also." he replied, grateful of all the help they had given.

"Rodney McKay now also being able to fix the Gate to take you home," Thedila announced. "I be taking him to stores in Nasheta for parts to be helping him."

"Yes, I am pretty sure that I have it all figured out, and now that there is not such an...uh..urgency, I expect to have the Gate up and running by tomorrow evening." Rodney grinned proudly.

"Take your time, McKay, I'm in no hurry now." John said, slurring slightly with tiredness.

"And with that, I shall go and get on with it. Now that Sheppard owes me a flask of coffee, I want to get home to collect on it." He winked and left.

John yawned long and loud, unable to stifle the impolite reflex. Teyla said that they should leave and let him rest properly, yet he felt he did not want to be left alone and wanted to tell them to stay. He had just dragged himself back through the gates of death to return to them and he felt almost scared that they would leave and he would fall back through those gates when no one was looking. She sensed this in him, her head cocked to the side as if she was listening to his unspoken words.

"You would rather we stayed a little longer?" she said, her knowing smile that had comforted John so many times through the years, warming his heart as it always did.

John simply nodded, finding that his voice had escaped him, leaving him mute in the moment.

He knew that even if he drifted off, they would not leave him now until he woke again, stronger. He knew that eventually Rodney would drift back here to join them, to lend his support in the silence of the night while his mind calculated his work for tomorrow.

That was what it was to be part of his team. To understand each others unspoken thoughts, to be able to tell in a heartbeat what the other was thinking, feeling, needing. To stay together and work together for the good of the team and each other. To be part of a family that would never leave you alone when you were scared nor leave you to suffer and die on a planet far from home.

As his eyes closed, an old favorite Rolling Stones song floated through his head and John smiled as he fell asleep.

_Wild Horses, couldn't drag him away...nor wild Moha for that matter._

:) _The End_


End file.
